Centralized electrical arrangement for musical performance by groups

ABSTRACT

Means for controlling the tones and the volumes of the sounds to be reproduced from electrical signals deliverd by various electronic and/or electrical musical instruments as well as microphones are arranged centrally within a single housing such as a cabinet. The output signals from the aforesaid means are commonly amplified by an amplifier circuit also provided within the housing and are then translated into audible sounds by a loudspeaker positioned outside of the housing. In another embodiment of the invention the housing is served by the console of an electronic organ, in which case the amplifier circuit of the electronic organ itself is utilized for amplification of the signals from the other instruments in use.

United States Patent 1191 Suzuki 1m 7 3,823,245 1451 July 9, 1974 [54] CENTRALIZED ELECTRICAL 7 3,456,062 7/ 1969 Watson et a1 84/ 1.01 ARRANGEMENT FOR MUSICAL 3,463,868 8/1969 Laube 84/016. 26 3,681,531 8/1972 Burkhard et 211.. 84/124 X PERFORMANCE BY GROUPS 3,719,782 3/1973 Barnum 84/1.24 X [75] Inventor: Kazohiko Suzuki, Hamakita, Japan FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 1 Assigned pp Gakki S9110 Kabushiki, 280,512 11/1965 Australia 84/1.03

Hamamatsu'sh" Japan OTHER PUBLICATIONS 1221 Filed: 1 1973 Electronic Music Synthesis for Recordings, IEEE 21 APPL 330 2 7 Spectrum, V01. 8, No. 4, April 1971, pp 18-30.

Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson 1 1 Forelgn Application Prlorlty Data Assistant Examiner-Stanley J. Witkowski Feb. 9, 1972 Japan 47-17155 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kenneth S. Goldfarb Feb. 9, 1972 Japan 47-17156 [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 84/1114, 84/ 1.24, 84/DIG. 17 Means f controlling the tones and the volumes of [51] 111i. Cl. G101] l/00 the Sounds to be l.gproduced from electrical signals [58] Field of Search 84/ 1.01-1.04, deliverd by various electronic and/0r electrical musi 84/ 1.17, 1.24, 1.28, DIG. 17, DIG. 26, DIG cal instruments as well as microphones are arranged 291mg 25 V centrally within a single housing such as a cabinet.

The output signals from the aforesaid means are com- [56] References C'ted monly amplified by an amplifier circuit also provided UNITED STATES PATENTS within the housing and arethen translated into audible 1,596,984 8/1926 Marks 84/1.04 x sounds y a ou speaker positioned outside of the 2,559,276 7/1951 Campbell 84/D1G. 17 housing. In another embodiment of the invention the 2,888,849 6/1959 Humphrey et a1. 84/1.01 housing is served by the console of an electronic or- 2,946,252 7/1960 Clarle 84/].01 gan, in which case the amplifier circuit of the elecgflgg; fi

3: 6 is tronic organ itself is utilized for amplification of the aner 3,255,295 6/1966 Gianella 84/1.l7 slgnals from the other Instruments 3,270,1 l9 8/1966 Griffith 84/101 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 10 1 11 T 1(6 TON(E VRH CONTROL CKT if 12 T1c12 1 TONE W12 t 1 13 3 17 18 in TONE VR13 1 o 1 LI CON R0 AMP 18 H cKi L Z I 14 HZ; IMPART REVERBE VR15 RE REP SWITCH APPAR PATENTEDJUL 91914 3,823,245

SHEET! BF 2 & TC11 11 VRH- 1s *11 TONE CONTROL CKT TC12 12 K 12 n TONE CONTROL g 16 CKT TQM AMP v. u, TONE K CONTROL CKT TC15 IMPART 15 t TONE v REVERBE 25 J CONTROL CKT 27 REIREP I [25 APPAR 8 TC28 m ELECTRO TONE CONTROL ORGAN cm 22 AUTO RHYTHM DEVICE Q22 21. n W

FOOT SWITCH CENTRALIZED ELECTRICAL ARRANGEMENT FOR MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY GROUPS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a novel system for musical performance by use of a plurality of electronic and/or electrical musical instruments (hereinafter referred to as electrophonic musical instruments to mean both types of instruments) together with or without microphones.

Heretofore, for electrophonic musical perfomiance in auditoriums or in similarly large spaces, tone control and volume control means of known constructions have been provided separately for various instruments in use such for example as an electric bass, an electric guitar, an electronic organ, an automatic rhythm accompaniment device, and one or more microphones for picking up the sounds of a vocalist, a trumpet, a flute and so forth. The output signals from such means have then been amplified by their respective amplifiers and further reproduced through separate loudspeakers.

However, for performance in less commodious locations or during preleminary exercises, such bulky equipment is unnecessary or indeed undesirable, and

relatively small output power is usually required for these purposes. The separate arrangement of the tone control and volume control means and so forth also makes difficult the adjustment of the relative tones and volumes of the sounds tobe produced by various instruments.

A further disadvantage of the prior art arrangement makes its appearance in connection with the use of a recording/reproducing apparatus; Conventionally, for recording of a musical performance in accordance with the prior art, the loudspeakers connected to the various electrophonic instruments and microphones have been arranged suitably close to a single microphone connected to the recording/reproducing apparatus. The reproduction; of the thus-recorded sounds has also required an amplifier and a loudspeaker provided exclusively for this purpose.

SUMMARY OF THE lNVENTlON In view of the listed disadvantages of the prior art it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel system for electrophonic musical performance particularly suitable for employment in narrowly confined spaces. Another object of the invention is to provide a system for electrophonic musical performance whereby therelative tones and volumes of the sounds to be reproduced from signals supplied by various electrophonic musical instruments and/or microphones are easily adjustable.

A further object of the invention is to provide a system for electrophonic musical performance such that a recording/reproducing apparatus can be used for direct recording of the signals asthey are fed into a common amplifier circuit, the recorded signals being reproduced through the amplifier circuit and a loudspeaker which are provided for sound reproduction from the signals supplied by the electrophonic musical instruments and/or microphones.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a system for electrophonic musical performance such that any desired number of headphones can be used to permit the performers to privately listen to their own combined sounds while making exercises.

With these objects in view and the other objects hereinafter set forth, the present invention provides, in its broader aspects, a system for electrophonic musical performance comprising a housing, and a plurality of input terminals provided tothe housing for connection of electrophonic musical instruments or other sources of electrical signals to be reproduced as musical sounds. The housing contains tone control means for controlling the tones of the sounds to be reproduced from the respective electrical signals supplied thereto from the input terminals, and volume control means for controlling the volumes of the sounds. An amplifier circuit is also provided within the housing for commonly amplifying the electrical signals which have passed through the tone control means and the volume control means, and the amplified electrical signals are translated into audible sounds through a loudspeaker positioned outside of the housing and connected to its output terminal. The housing may be in the form of a cabinet of any desired shape or may be served by the console of an electronic organ which also takes part in the musical performance.

The features which are believed to be novel and characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularlity in the appended claims. The invention itself, how- I ever, together with the further objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example only, some preferred embodiments of the invention and throughout which like reference characters designate like parts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. l is a schematic block diagram showing a system for electrophonic musical performance by way of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is also a schematic block diagram showing another preferred embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, and first of all to FIG. 1 thereof which illustrates a first preferred embodiment of the invention adapted for use in narrowly confined connected, purely by way of example, with an electric bass llll, an electric guitar 12, an electronic organ 13, a microphone 14 for picking up the sound of a vocalist, and another microphone is for picking up the sound of a trumpet. The constructions of all these instruments are well known to those in the art and by themselves do not constitute a part of this invention.

The input terminals i to t are connected to the inputs of tone control circuits TC to TC respectively,

which are housed within the cabinet 10. These tone control circuits determine in a known manner the qualities or tones, or timbres, of the sounds to be reproduced from the electrical signals delivered thereto from the electric bass 11, the electric guitar 12, the electronic organ 13 and the microphones 14 and 15.

The outputs of the tone control circuits TC to TC are connected to volume controls VR to VR respectively, and thence commonly to the input of an amplifier circuit 17. Both the volume controls and the amplifier circuit are housed within the cabinet 10. The output of the amplifier circuit is connected to an output terminal r to which is connected a loudspeaker l8, and further to one or more, three in this embodiment, additional output terminals to These additional output terminals are to be connected to headphones, 40, which are to be worn by the performers themselves so that they can listen to their own music during exercises without disturbing the neighbors.

An automatic rhythm accompaniment device of well known construction is installed at 22 within the cabinet 10 to produce rhythmic sounds. The output of this automatic rhythm accompaniment device is connected to the input of the aforesaid amplifier circuit 17 via a volume control VR whereas its input is connected to a terminal 2 for connection of a foot switch 23 through a cord 24. v

A further terminal is connected between the volume controls VR to VR and VR and the input of the amplifier circuit 17, and a recording/reproducing apparatus of any suitable construction is provided at 25 outside of the cabinet 10 for connection to the terminal 1 through a cord 26. Provided at 27 within the cabinet 10 and connected to the amplifier circuit 17 is the known means for imparting reverberations to the sounds reproduced from the loudspeaker 18.

The first preferred embodiment of this invention being constructed as hereinbefore described, the electrical signals supplied through the input terminals i to r from the electric bass 11, the electric guitar 12, the electronic organ 13 and the microphones 14 and 15 are first delivered to their respective tone control circuits TC to TC, where the tones of the sounds to be reproduced vfrom the respective electrical signals are determined as aforesaid in accordance with the prior art. The volumes of the sounds to be reproduced from these signals are suitably regulated by the succeedingly provided volume controls VR to VR The signals are further transmitted through the amplifier circuit 17, where they are altogether amplified to a desired extent, and are reproduced as integrally combined audible sound by the loudspeaker 18 connected to the output terminal r If now the foot switch 23 connected to the input terminal is operated by the foot, the automatic rhythm accompaniment device 22 functions in accordance with the prior art to produce rhythmic sound from the loudspeaker 18 via the volume control V11 and the amplifier circuit 17. By connecting the recording/reproducing apparatus to the terminal I the output signals from the tone control circuit TC to TC and the automatic rhythm accompaniment device 22 can be recorded via the volume controls VR, to VR and VR For reproduction, the recorded signals from the output of the recording/reproducing apparatus are first Further by connecting the headphones to the output terminals to the performers can make exercises while privately listening to their own combined sounds. Furthermore, since no externally audible sound is produced during use of a headphone or headphones, this system of musical performance can be employed favorably for exercises at nighttime or in locations where the production of any loud sound is undesirable.

Illustrated in FIG. 2 is another preferred embodiment of the invention, in which the cabinet 10 of the FIG. 1 embodiment is replaced by the console 10a of an electronic organ itself. The console 10a is equipped with the input terminals t to r for connection of, also purely by way of example, the electric bass 11, the electric guitar 12 and the microphones l4 and 15 through the cords 16. As in the preceding embodiment the input tenninals are connected to the inputs of the tone control circuits TC TC TC and TC,,;, respectively, which are housed within the electronic organ console 10a. The outputs of these tone control circuits are connected to the respective volume controls VR VR VR,., and VR and thence commonly to the input of the amplifier circuit 17. Although the amplifier circuit 17 isprovided intrinsically for the amplification of the signals of the electronic organ, it is here adapted for amplification of all the other signals supplied throughthe input terminals 1 to I as well.

amplified by the amplifier circuit 17 and are then reproduced by the loudspeaker 18 as audible sound.

As discussed previously in connection with the FIG. 1 embodiment, the tone control circuits TC TC TC and TC determine in accordance with the prior art the qualities or tones of the sounds to be reproduced from the electrical signals delivered thereto from the electric bass 11, the electric guitar l2 and the microphones 14 and 15, respectively. Moreover, by adjustment of the volume controls VR VR, VR and VR the volumes of the sounds to be reproduced can be suitably regulated. The electrical signals which have passed through the tone control circuits and the volume controls are then commonly amplified by the amplifier circuit 17 and are reproduced by the loudspeaker 18 as integrally combined audible sound.

The console 10a, of course, is equipped at 28 with the usual keyboards and pedal board of the electronic organ together with the circuitry necessary for the production of the desired electrical signals. This circuitry is connected to a tone control circuit TC and thence to the input of the amplifier circuit 17. Thus, by playing on these keyboards and pedal board in the usual manner, the corresponding signals from the electronic organ circuitry are transmitted through the tone control circuit TC and the amplifier circuit 17 and are reproduced by the loudspeaker 18.

The automatic rhythm accompaniment device 22 also provided within the console 10a is connected, on the one hand, to the terminal t and, on the other hand, to the input of the amplifier circuit 17 via the volume control VR The terminal may be connected to the foot switch 23 through the cord 24. By operating this switch 23 by the foot the rhythmic sound can be produced as previously mentioned from the loudspeaker 18 via the automatic rhythm accompaniment device 22, the volume control VR and the amplifier circuit 17.

Also as in the FIG. 1 embodiment, the recording/reproducing apparatus 25 is provided outside of the console 10a for connection to the terminal Q and the means 27 for imparting reverberations to the sound reproduced from the loudspeaker l8 is connected directly to the amplifier circuit 17 within the console Ma. The output terminals to t are likewise provided in additionto the output terminal 2 for connection of the headphones which most suitably may be worn by the performers themselves during exercises.

As may now be apparent, this second preferred embodiment of the invention is still more space-saving than the first described embodiment because it requires no other housing than the console of the electronic organ which also takes part in the musical performance. Hence, this latter embodiment is particularly well suited for employment in narrowly confined spaces by a small group of performers.

While it is believed that the various explicitly stated and implicitly suggested objects of this invention are fully accomplished by the preferred embodiments herein disclosed, it will be easy for those skilled in the art to devise many modifications, substitutions and changes of the embodiments, while still remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention, without prejudicing the novelty thereof.

I claim:

]l. A'system for electrophonic musical performance comprising:

a housing;

a plurality of input terminals provided to said housing for connection of sources of electrical signals to be reproduced as musical sounds;

tone control means operatively electrically connected to said input terminals and within said housing for controlling the tones of thesounds to be reproduced from the respective electrical signals supplied thereto from said input terminals;

volume control means operatively electricallyconnected to said tone control means and within said housing for controlling the volumes of the sounds to be reproduced from the respective electrical signals;

an amplifier circuit operatively connected to said volume control means and within said housing for amplifying the electrical signals which have passed through said tone control means and said volume control means;

said amplifier circuit having an output provided to said housing and connected to the output of said amplifier circuit, said output terminal being adapted for connection of means for translating the amplified electrical signals into audible sounds;

a recording/reproducing apparatus provided outside of said housing and electrically operatively connected to said amplifier circuit;

means within said housing connected to said amplifier circuit for imparting reverberations to the sounds reproduced from the electrical signals, and

an automatic rhythm accompaniment device within said housing connected to said amplifier circuit via said volume controls means for producing a rhythmic sound from said means connected to said output terminal of said housing, said automatic rhythm accompaniment device being operated by means of a foot switch provided outside of said housing.

2. The system as set forth in claim ll, further including at least one additional output terminal provided to said housing and connected to the output of said ampli fier circuit, said additional output terminal being adapted for connection of a headphone, and a headphone connected to said additional output terminal.

l l l= 

1. A system for electrophonic musical performance comprising: a housing; a plurality of input terminals provided to said housing for connection of sources of electrical signals to be reproduced as musical sounds; tone control means operatively electrically connected to said input terminals and within said housing for controlling the tones of the sounds to be reproduced from the respective electrical signals supplied thereto from said input terminals; volume control means operatively electrically connected to said tone control means and within said housing for controlling the volumes of the sounds to be reproduced from the respective electrical signals; an amplifier circuit operatively connected to said volume control means and within said housing for amplifying the electrical signals which have passed through said tone control means and said volume control means; said amplifier circuit having an output provided to said housing and connected to the output of said amplifier circuit, said output terminal being adapted for connection of means for translating the amplified electrical signals into audible sounds; a recording/reproducing apparatus provided outside of said housing and electrically operatively connected to said amplifier circuit; means within said housing connected to said amplifier circuit for imparting reverberations to the sounds reproduced from the electrical signals, and an automatic rhythm accompaniment device within said housing connected to said amplifier circuit via said volume controls means for producing a rhythmic sound from said means connected to said output terminal of said housing, said automatic rhythm accompaniment device being operated by means of a foot switch provided outside of said housing.
 2. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including at least one additional output terminal provided to said housing and connected to the output of said amplifier circuit, said additional output terminal being adapted for connection of a headphone, and a headphone connected to said additional output terminal. 